Thursday, March 26, 2009

American Idol, Top 10: Results

Quick spoilers for tonight's "American Idol" elimination coming right up...

So, Michael Sarver, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre in the bottom three(*), Scott sent back to safety first, and Michael goes home. Despite Simon claiming earlier in the show that they would seriously consider the final performance, and despite Simon then claiming that they hadn't decided after Michael finished "singing for his life," they declined to use the Judges' Save on our resident roughneck.

(*) Based on Matt being in the green on DialIdol, I'd be tempted to suggest that putting him center-stage was part of a producer push to fire up whatever fanbase he has. But Ryan explicitly said he was in the bottom three, and he tends to be very careful with his word choice when they play those sorts of games. When Anoop hit center stage a few weeks ago despite also being in the DialIdol green, Ryan never explicitly said he was in the bottom, just that he had to stand in the center. So perhaps my chances of making money on Matt in the office pool aren't as great as I guessed last night. Sigh...

I watched very little of the remainder of the show, pausing only long enough to notice two things: 1)Roooooben has dropped a lot of weight from the last time he was on the show, and good for him, even if he still has no stage persona other than a nice smile; and 2)Now that the New York Times got the producers to admit that this year's group performances are being lip-synced, the contestants have given up any pretense of making it look real, and it's become brilliantly comic. Adam Lambert looked like he was struggling to hold back a giggle when he had to fake those three big high notes in rapid succession.

Michael was on borrowed time, so no big deal on the elimination. Did I miss anything else of note? How was Stevie Wonder?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ruben may have lost a lot of weight, but that didn't stop him from sweating like a spigot about five seconds into his performance. Get the man a towel!

Anonymous said...

"they declined not to use the Judges' Save on our resident roughneck."

Delete after reading, but there seems to be a bit of a typo in the quoted sentence.

Adam said...

No way in hell was Rigger getting Idol Immunity, of course.

We saw Ruben (with Trenyce, Frenchie and others) in Ain't Misbehavin' two months ago. He is as you remember him -- wonderfully charismatic, smooth voice, likeable as hell, sweats like Albert Brooks in Broadcast News.

Anonymous said...

America got it right.

Anyone know next week's theme/mentor?

Anonymous said...

The judges' acting as if they were seriously deliberating Sarver's fate at the end was laughably fake. I assume the producers read the blogs that said the judges weren't taking the "Save" seriously enough and that's why the show ran over a few minutes, screwing up my recording of The Office. Stupid Idol! At least Scott was in the bottom 3 finally. Megan and Scott will hopefully get booted soon enough.

Anonymous said...

Glad i don't have to watch tonight here in So Cal in 15 minutes...good choice, although i want scott to be put out of his misery!

Anonymous said...

they're not only lip-syncing, that entire performance wasn't even live. My DVR doesn't lie: the camera never pulls back or hits an angle that shows any part of the audience; at one point the camera spins around Lil fast enough so that you glimpse the judges table and they have guys in white shirts sitting where randy and simon should be sitting; and the biggest giveaway is that the kids are all mic'ed when ryan opens the show, even though they only wave and never speak... then seconds later they aren't mic'ed during their medley performance... and then they are mic'ed again after the performance. so why even bother with an opening performance at all? especially if it's going to be as terrible as what they gave us tonight?

Anonymous said...

I hate hate hate the group numbers. Seriously...make them stop.

Can't believe Matt was in the bottom -- I thought he was great. But it was Michael's time to go (or Scott's...whatever).

Anonymous said...

Why in the world would Matt be in the bottom three? Two of the three were the correct ones, and by God, Megan should have been the other.

I've never been crazy about the group numbers, but now that they are a farce---hard to believe that they could have made those things a farce given what they started with, but give it up to Idol, they managed it---really? Just end them.

KrisMrsBBradley said...

I actually kind of get a kick out of the group numbers now. Not because they are good, mind you, but because I like to watch for who is messing up, and who looks like they think it is as ridiculous as the rest of us.

I laughed at Adam's giggly face. Matt, though a great singer, is not a great lip syncher.

Anonymous said...

I personally liked how far away Scott's microphone was from his mouth when "singing" during the group performance.

Anonymous said...

He said "bottom three" but did he ever say Matt had the second-lowest number of votes (or the third-lowest, for that matter)? I think they can throw whoever they want into the "bottom three" as long as the actual lowest vote-getter goes home and Ryan doesn't say explicitly whether the others in the "bottom" had the next lowest totals if they didn't. I could be wrong, but aside from, you know, integrity, I'm not sure there's anything preventing them from doing that.

K J Gillenwater said...

I believe Matt was a victim of "oh, he doesn't need the votes." People see a certain person as 'safe' and vote for the ones they think are on the brink, but are singers they still like.

Just watch, next week Matt will be safe...he's too good to get booted just yet.

I'm surprised people aren't punishing Megan for her awfulness yet. Typically, it seems that if expectations are high for a certain performer, a number of failures are 'allowed' in order to let this person find their footing. I thought by now, that her failures would start counting against her.

Guess there are those who think she still needs time to find the right songs to suit her and is worth the wait.

Dan Jameson said...

Anon at 9:40am:

This has been my theory since day 1. I do not believe that the bottom 3 is necessarily the 3 lowest vote getters. I think it is THE lowest vote getter and then 2 others that the producers choose. I've watched 6 out of 8 seasons and NEVER have they said that the other 2 bottom 3 contestants had the next lowest vote totals. Never.

Alan: Stevie was great - I thought. That was the best part of the show.

Anonymous said...

I was glad to see Sarver go but was surprised with Matt being in the bottom 3. Megan needs to go next or Scott. America really got it right. I don't watch the group performances (never have never will) so I usually fast forward to the parts I like. I did watch the beginning of the group performance for some reason this week and I thought it was horrendous. It was so obvious it was pre taped!!!

Kacie said...

I said this in my blog too - why did Matt act like sullen teenager the entire time he was over in the bottom three section? I mean, he's down there because he hasn't developed enough of a fan base despite having great performances. The man needs to smile, interact with the camera, judges, host, etc. Instead, he looked pissed and sullen and didn't really dance or smile or generally put off any pleasant vibes.

Seriously - this contest IS about singing, but you have to be likeable to get votes.

Anonymous said...

Matt has a good voice but those growths on his face are really distracting. He has a huge zit or mole in the center of his head, one on his cheek and another by his mouth. He should get those removed.

Ruben sounded great but wow he was sweating like a fountain. I hope he continues to lose weight.